Archiving Assessment

ICM America was selected to conduct an SAP Archiving Assessment to identify opportunities to increase system performance, optimize ABAP codes, reduce data storage space and make specific recommendations on archiving methods and tools used to assure secure data storage, as well as access and retrieval speed adequate to the expected usage of the historic data.

The deliverable of this project was to provide an actionable roadmap and a Business Case with clear recommendations as to what ILM components require changes with a 3 point priority system.

A sample of findings included:

Compliance: Client has records in excess of 9 years. Only 9 years are required by compliance. This exposes the company to litigation by the sheer presence of the data. It is recommended that all [xxxxx] data be deleted after 9 years as a policy, with no backup

Operational Performance: Due to redundant data the overall system performance is suffering. It is assumed that the SAP R/3 performance can improve considerably with a data archiving plan in place.

DB Performance: Due to low usage data and redundant data in the Oracle and SAP BI systems the overall performance of the systems is under stress. It is recommended to model the InfoProviders and decrease the data footprint prior to archiving. This will both enhance performance and optimize archiving at the same time. ICM uses automation tools to accomplish this task

ABAP Audit: Part of the ILM strategy is to audit and document ABAP codes for SOX documentation. Client has some very long and complex ABAP codes that ‘no one dares to touch’. From a SOX – section 404, compliance it is mandated to generate simplified documentation as to what the program does for audit purposes. It is also recommended to periodically optimize all programs and codes in the business systems. ICM uses automated tools to accomplish this task